Hawkins v. Garland's Adm'r

Citations

• 76 Va. 149
• 1882 Va. LEXIS 12

Syllabus

<p>1. Will—Latent ambiguity—Extrinsic evidence.—Wills are explainable by the light of surrounding circumstances. Latent ambiguity is that which seems certain, for anything that appears on the face of the will, but there is some collateral matter, dehors the will, that causes ambiguity. Extraneous evidence is admissible, both to show the existence of the latent ambiguity and to remove it and disclose the testator’s meaning.</p> <p>2. Idem—Idem.—In case here testator says : “ I give to each of my namesakes, S G son of S G S, S G son of S G W, S G son of S G, and S G son of Captain J F S,& bond of $1,000 of S. S. railroad.”</p> <p>Held :</p> <p>Extraneous evidence is admissible to show that no.person answering the description of “ S G, son of Captain J P S,” existed or was intended as the object of the testator’s bounty, but that a person known to testator as “ S G, son of Captain J P H,” was intended as the object of his bounty.</p>